Corset



said side curved springs, as more fully hereinfull, clear, and exact description of the same,

'the breast-section of corsets, the object being UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

rnnnnn o D. oooxn, or wnsr BBOOKFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

CORSET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 279,345, dated June 12, 1883,

Application filed March 23, 1883. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERIC D. Cooxn, of West Brookfield, in the county of WVorcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented'a new Improvement in Corsets; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon, to be a and which said drawings constitute part of this specification, and represent, in

Figure 1, a front viewof the front section or breast portion of a corset Figs. 2 and 3, transverse sections through the springs in the breast portion.

This invention relates to an improvement in to make that portion adjustable.

Corsets of a given size by the same makers are made substantially after the same pattern or cut, the aim being to give a medium fullness to the breast portion; but as different persons require a different shape or extent of this portion of the corset the breast portion will be too full for some and too scant for others.

The object of my invention is to adapt the breast portion to contraction or expansion to a considerable extent, and so as to give the greatest and least extent of fullness which may be required; and my invention consists in a l curved spring arranged across the upper front portion of the breast-section, with a correspondingly fixed curved spring at each side, which work into the pocket-op ening of the firstmentioned spring, and whereby the breast portion may be pressed inward, the side curved springs slipping into the pocket, or extended by drawing the section out and off from the after described.

The cut of the corset, aside from the front section, is immaterial. I therefore only show in the illustration the front portion of the corset, A repiesenting the usual claspor busk; Across the top, or near the upper edge of the breast-section, a pocket, a, is formed, and into this pocket a steel (or other suitable material) spring, I), is introduced. This is curved cor responding to the front portion of that section, but less in extent than the extreme breastsection, as seen in Fig.2. In the body portion of the corset, at each side, a spring, d, is firmly secured, the spring projecting outward, and curved corresponding to the curve of the spring b, and entering the pocket in which the spring bis arranged. Between the ends of the springb and the body of the corset I preferably leave but a single thickness of the fabric of which the corset is composed-that is, cut away the outside section; but this is not essential. By pressing the front of the breast section inward the upper part slips on the springs d, into the contracted position, as seen in Fig. 3, or by drawing it outward it also slips upon the springs d, as seen in broken lines in Fig. 2. That the part may retain the shape to which it may be thus adjusted, I apply strings or other fastenings at the sides of the breastsection and to the body, as shown, which may be tied or secured when the section is properly adjusted, it only being necessary to secure it against an outward expansion, as the pressure upon it is from the inside outward. The spring b insures the proper curvature to the front of the section, and serves as a stay at that point.

The transverse pocket a, in which the spring b is fixed, and into whichthe springs d play, is made between the two thicknesses of material, in the usual manner of forming pockets for corset-stays.

Instead of employing fastening devices at the sides, there may be sufficient friction be tween the springs d d and the pocket in which they enter to retain the section in its extended position. i

I claim 1. I11 a corset, the breast-section provided with the curved stay I), in a transverse pocket in the front of the section, combined with side corresp ondinglycurved springs, d, fixed by one end to the body of the corset, at each side the breastsection, their other end extending into .a pocket in the breast-section to work in connection with the fixed spring 12, substantially as described.

9 2. In a corset, the breast-section provided with the curved stay b, in a transverse pocket in the front of the section, combined with side correspondingly curved springs, d, fixed by one end to the body of the corset, at each side 100 the breast-section, their other end extending into a pocket in the breast-section to work in connection with the fixed spring I), and fast ening devices, substantially such as described,

at the sides of the breast-section, substantially 105 as set forth.

FREDERIO D. GOOKE.

. WVitnesses:

O. L. WINSTEAD, H. MIDDLEBROOK. 

